Margie Dahl placed two caps that belonged to her husband Butch at his memorial cross following a Memorial Day program at Liberty Park. Butch, who died in September, was an Army veteran. Memorial Day services in Marshall included a ceremony placing flags at white crosses representing the 22 local veterans and service members who had died over the past year.

MARSHALL — It’s often considered the unofficial beginning of summer. But there’s a lot more to Memorial Day, Victor Gadas told the crowd gathered at Marshall’s Liberty Park.

“We are here to mourn the personnel who died in the line of duty,” said Gadas, a Navy veteran and the keynote speaker at Memorial Day ceremonies in Marshall.

“I want to thank all who are here giving their time this day. You may have made it a short three-day weekend, or shared a meal with family. Some of you have placed flowers on a grave, and grieved at graves,” Gadas said.

Southwest Minnesota residents observed Memorial Day by visiting military service members’ graves in local cemeteries, or by taking the time to remember service members they knew. In a ceremony at Liberty Park on Monday morning, Marshall area Scouts placed American flags on a total of 22 white crosses representing veterans who had died in the past year.

After the program, Margie Dahl came forward to place two veteran’s caps that belonged to her husband Butch on one of the crosses. Butch Dahl, who died in September, had served in the Army during the Vietnam War.

Margie Dahl said she had wanted to put reminders of Butch on his cross, to honor him as a veteran. “It was no question,” she wanted to do it, she said.

In his keynote speech, Gadas talked about the ways that military service members sacrificed for their country. Every veteran has taken an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, he said.

“I and others consider this oath to have no expiration date. The veterans we are honoring here today gave their lives to honor this oath,” Gadas said.

Gadas said surviving veterans can also pay a heavy cost for their service, in the form of conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Suicide rates amongst veterans are very high and in some cases preventable,” he said. “I did lose a good friend this past spring to PTSD. I did not know he was suffering from it . . . I will miss him immensely.”

Gadas also reflected on Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which called on Americans to honor soldiers who died fighting in the Civil War. Lincoln had served as part of the Illinois state militia more than 30 years before giving the address, Gadas said. Part of Lincoln’s service had included digging graves for fallen troops, he said.

“Did some of his memories from his militia enlistment influence parts of his address? I would like to think so,” Gadas said.

Gadas closed his speech by reminding area residents to honor fallen service members.

“May those that gave their life in duty today rest in peace,” he said. “For us the living, it is our duty and obligation to see that our memories of these men and women shall never end, because now we have the watch.”